Chapter 2
I thought Maya was exaggerating.
I wanted her to be exaggerating.
I wanted Grant to be nothing more than an angry ex-boyfriend who needed to be thrown out of our house.
But Maya’s hands were shaking.
Maya never shook.
“What does Mom have?”
She looked toward the window.
“Sit down.”
“No.”
“Caleb.”
“Tell me.”
Another sound came from my house.
Something heavy.
Maybe a chair.
Maybe a door.
I stepped toward Maya’s front entrance again.
She blocked me.
“Your mother made me promise I would keep you here.”
“She knew this was going to happen?”
“She knew it might.”
That hurt almost as much as being thrown out.
“She knew Grant could show up, and she never told me?”
“She was trying to protect you.”
“Everybody keeps saying that like lying to me somehow makes me safer.”
Maya closed her eyes.
Then she nodded.
“You deserve the truth.”
She took me to the dining table.
Her phone stayed in her hand.
“Grant Mercer owned a construction company with your mother’s brother.”
“Uncle Daniel?”
I hadn’t heard that name in years.
Mom’s younger brother had died when I was ten.
Everyone told me it was a car accident.
Maya nodded.
“Daniel discovered Grant had been stealing money.”
“How much?”
“More than two million dollars.”
I laughed once because the number sounded ridiculous.
Then I saw she wasn’t joking.
“Grant was moving money through fake subcontractors. Daniel figured it out and told your mother.”
I felt cold.
“What does this have to do with his death?”
Maya didn’t answer immediately.
That was my answer.
“No.”
“Caleb—”
“No.”
“Daniel died three days before he was supposed to meet with an investigator.”
My stomach twisted.
“The police said his brakes failed.”
“They did.”
“That was an accident.”
“That is what everyone believed.”
I stood.
“Believed?”
Maya reached into a drawer.
She pulled out an old key.
“Six months after Daniel died, your mother found a storage box he had hidden.”
“What was inside?”
“Records. Bank statements. Copies of contracts. Voice recordings.”
My mouth went dry.
“Recordings of Grant?”
“Yes.”
I looked toward my house.
“And Mom kept them?”
“Not at first.”
“What does that mean?”
“She gave copies to a lawyer.”
“Then why isn’t Grant in prison?”
“The lawyer disappeared from the case.”
“What?”
“Not literally. He withdrew. Said the evidence wasn’t enough. Your mother became afraid.”
“Of Grant?”
Maya nodded.
“For years, Grant stayed away.”
“Until he dated her?”
“He didn’t date her by accident.”
The words made me sick.
“He knew who she was?”
“He always knew.”
I remembered meeting him.
His easy smile.
The way he shook my hand.
The questions he asked about school.
What time I got home.
Whether I worked after class.
Whether Mom spent evenings alone.
My skin crawled.
“He got close to her because of the evidence.”
“Yes.”
“And she knew?”
“Not in the beginning.”
“Then when did she figure it out?”
“Three months ago.”
The exact time she told me they had broken up.
I sat slowly.
“What happened?”
“She heard him asking someone on the phone about Daniel’s files. She realized he had been searching her house.”
“Our house.”
“Yes.”
Rage rushed through me.
“He went through my room?”
“Probably.”
I wanted to smash something.
Instead, I looked at the old key on the table.
“What’s that?”
Maya pushed it toward me.
“Your mother gave it to me last week.”
I didn’t touch it.
“What does it open?”
“A safety-deposit box.”
I stared at her.
“Is that where the evidence is?”
“I don’t know.”
“You just said—”
“I’m telling you what Sarah told me. She said if Grant came back and she sent you here, I was supposed to give you this.”
My chest tightened.
“She planned this?”
“She prepared for it.”
“Why didn’t she call the police?”
Maya looked tired suddenly.
“Because Grant has spent years making sure people are afraid to testify against him.”
“So we call anyway.”
“I already did.”
“You did?”
“The moment you arrived.”
“Then where are they?”
“Coming.”
I stood again.
The waiting was unbearable.
I moved to the window and looked through the narrow opening in the curtain.
My house was quiet.
Too quiet.
Grant’s black SUV sat in the driveway.
Mom’s car was behind it.
Then my phone buzzed.
Unknown number.
A photo appeared.
My mother sitting at our kitchen table.
Grant standing behind her.
My heart stopped.
Another message.
COME HOME AND SHE GETS HURT.
I almost dropped the phone.
Maya rushed over.
“What?”
I showed her.
Her face tightened.
Then a second message came.
STAY WHERE YOUR MOTHER SENT YOU.
I frowned.
“That makes no sense.”
Maya stared at the screen.
“What?”
“If Grant wants me away, why warn me not to come back?”
She took the phone.
“That message might not be from him.”
Before I could answer, another text arrived.
CHECK YOUR BACKPACK.
I turned toward the couch.
My backpack was where I had dropped it.
I opened the largest zipper.
Schoolbooks.
A sweatshirt.
My lunch container.
Nothing.
Then I noticed the inside lining had been cut.
There was a small envelope hidden beneath it.
My name was written on the front.
CALeb.
Mom’s handwriting.
I tore it open.
Inside was a flash drive.
And a folded note.
If Grant is in the house, he knows enough to be dangerous.
Do not confront him.
Do not trust anyone who tells you the evidence is already gone.
Take this to Detective Lena Brooks.
Only her.
I read it twice.
Then I looked at Maya.
“Who is Lena Brooks?”
Maya’s expression changed.
“She investigated Daniel’s death.”
My phone rang.
Unknown number again.
I answered without thinking.
No one spoke at first.
Then I heard Mom breathing.
“Mom?”
A pause.
“Caleb.”
Her voice was strangely calm.
Too calm.
“Are you okay?”
“I need you to listen.”
“Police are coming.”
Silence.
Then Grant’s voice sounded faintly in the background.
“Tell him.”
Mom inhaled.
“Caleb, bring me the flash drive.”
My eyes moved to the object in my hand.
I hadn’t told her I found it.
Grant knew.
“How does he know about it?”
“Please.”
Her voice cracked.
“Bring it home.”
Maya grabbed my wrist and shook her head.
I pressed the phone tighter to my ear.
“Mom, did he hurt you?”
“I’m fine.”
That meant no.
“Mom.”
“Bring the drive.”
Then her voice dropped.
Barely a whisper.
“Remember what I told you at the door.”
The line went dead.
I stood there, staring at my phone.
I’m not protecting him from you.
She was protecting me from him.
And now Grant wanted the evidence badly enough to use her against me.
Sirens sounded in the distance.
Maya exhaled.
“Finally.”
But before relief could hit me, Grant’s SUV roared to life outside.
I ran to the window.
The vehicle shot backward from our driveway.
Grant was driving.
Mom was in the passenger seat.
“Mom!”
The SUV sped down the street.
A police cruiser turned onto our block seconds too late.
I ran outside.
Maya followed.
The cruiser stopped in front of us.
A woman stepped out.
Tall.
Dark jacket.
Badge at her waist.
“Caleb Bennett?”
I gripped the flash drive inside my pocket.
“Who are you?”
She looked straight at me.
“Detective Lena Brooks.”
My pulse jumped.
I remembered Mom’s note.
Only her.
I pulled out the flash drive.
Her eyes widened.
“Where did you get that?”
“My mother.”
For the first time, the detective looked afraid.
She grabbed her radio.
“We need an immediate location on Sarah Bennett and Grant Mercer.”
Then she turned back to me.
“Caleb, whatever happens next, you do not go after them.”
“Why?”
“Because Grant Mercer has already killed once.”
My entire body went cold.
May you like
Brooks looked toward the road where the SUV had disappeared.
“And if he realizes what’s on that drive, he may decide he has nothing left to lose.”
